ng the army in time of peace. This
was in full Senate.

I followed with a statement that I had no objection to giving
the President this discretion, and did not disapprove the
bill on that account. I thought the size of the Army in
time of peace should be left largely to the opinion of the
experts, especially General Miles, the famous soldier at the
head of our Army, who thought the regular Army should consist
of one hundred for every thousand of our population. That
would be about eighty thousand then, and before long would
require a hundred thousand men. But I said I was opposed
to raising soldiers to carry on the war in the Philippine
Islands. The only way to stop it that I knew was to refuse
to vote for the Army Bill. I voted against it solely on that
account.

I meant that if the Legislature of Massachusetts were to
reelect me, no man should ever have it to say that I had
bought my reelection by silence on this question, or concealed
my opinion, however extreme it might be, until after election.

After my election I delivered an address before the two Houses
of the Legislature, at their request, and was received with
a most cordial enthusiasm.

Yet I think that if any leading Republican who had differed
from me on this question, especially Governor Long, of whose
brilliant administration of the Navy the people of the Commonwealth
were so proud, had pressed his candidacy for the office in
opposition to me, as has been the custom in like cases in
other States, it is not unlikely that he would have been elected.

I have no doubt I should have found Governor Roger Wolcott
a formidable competitor, if he had lived and been willing.
Governor Wolcott had made a statement in public, quietly and
briefly, as was his wont, expressing his sympathy with me
when the question of the Treaty was under debate. Somewhat
later he made a statement in the same way, expressing his
opinion that the Administration should be supported. Both
these declarations were in general terms. They were not inconsistent
with each other. But death arrested the honorable and useful
career of Roger Wolcott when he was still in the prime of
life, in the strength of his noble manhood, a strength which
seemed rapidly enlarging and growing as if in early youth.

I have not doubt that the subjugation of the Philippine Islands,
the acquisition of a dependency to be held in subjection by
the United States, the overthrow of the great doctrine